The thought of so many entities possessing your identity information and financial data is terrifying. Think about all the websites on which you have ever entered your credit card information and date of birth; if one of those websites is hacked, the bad guys can use your information to do all sorts of financial damage. As a business owner, though, you have a bigger worry. What if thousands of people, everyone who has ever worked for your company and every customer who has ever kept their credit card information on file with you, get their information stolen when your company’s computers get hacked, and they all blame you? The money it will cost you to fight or settle all those lawsuits will be significant, and it could jeopardize your company’s ability to stay afloat. If you are facing liability lawsuits after your company’s data was compromised, contact a San Diego business law attorney.
Why Data Breaches are a Nightmare for Businesses
People who suffer economic harm because of negligence on the part of a business have the right to file a liability lawsuit against the business and seek damages. Negligence means that the business breached the duty of care to use reasonable caution to protect customers from harm, economic and otherwise. You often hear about customers suing companies after getting injured at a retail store or restaurant for failing to keep the premises safe. If there is an account takeover or data breach at your company, the customers whose data is stolen can sue you for the financial losses they suffered because of the hacking incident. If they can argue that you failed to use reasonable caution to protect their data, the court may award them damages.
Cybersecurity: An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure
The best way to avoid lawsuits about stolen customer data is to beef up your cybersecurity. There is no excuse not to use multi-factor authentication and to require strong passwords. All but the smallest businesses need more than one person whose job is to protect employees’ and customers’ data. Even if hiring full-time cybersecurity experts is beyond your budget, you should have an external cybersecurity firm perform vulnerability assessments of your systems periodically. When the WannaCry ransomware attack targeted large companies in 2017, some of the companies got sued. The basis for many of these lawsuits stemmed from the companies’ failure to update and implement the Microsoft patch to protect against the malware.But the companies with adequate cybersecurity standards and assessments had applied the patch and protected themselves.
Contact Foldenauer Law Group About Data Breach Claims
A business lawyer can help you defend your business against claims by people whose data was stolen in an account takeover of your company’s systems. Contact Foldenauer Law Group, APLC in San Diego, California to discuss your case.